One finger, two buttons, is all it takes to be a martial arts master. I’m talking about One Finger Death Punch, an absolutely brilliant game wherein you play a stick figure martial artist. I’ve been playing it every day for the past two weeks, and you should too!
The way it works is you have a stick figure in the middle of the screen, and enemies come running at you from left and right. When they get within range you click to attack. Left click to attack left, right click to attack right. If you click before they are within range you will miss and be stunned for a moment. If they get too close they will attack you and you will lose some life. That’s it, but the complexity they build from those simple rules is both deep and beautiful in its elegance.
Each level only takes a few minutes to play, and it’s a few minutes of absolute flow. You move from enemy to enemy striking in quick controlled bursts to make sure that you never miss and give them an opportunity to strike you. Some enemies will dodge back and forth requiring several attacks to defeat. You’ll fight ‘brawler’ enemies that engage in a prolonged one on one battle with you. Some enemies will throw weapons at you, and you’ll snatch them out of the air and send them flying back to their source. And all of it is done with just the two buttons.
It’s an absolute work of art, and only cost $1.99, if you enjoy games (and if you don’t I’m not sure why you’re reading this), you really, really should go give it a shot. You won’t regret it.
Here’s the link again, so you don’t have to scroll back up to the top.